Tennis didn't quite go according to plan in Adventures in paradise

I played tennis on Monday with Luke. I had to catch the train to Northgate and he picked me up from there.

This was me waiting for Luke. You’ll see my pics get gradually worse as the day progressed lol.

Stupidly, I’d forgotten to bring both sunnies AND sunscreen, as I didn’t know what this venue was like, but of course it was outdoors DOH. Thankfully Luke let me borrow a little bit that he had left, which I just put on my face. There wasn’t enough for anything more, but it was a really sunny afternoon. I thought for sure I was gonna finish up there sunburnt to a crisp.
Luke picked me up and we went to this place where they let me borrow a tennis racquet so I didn’t need to carry my own on the train.

I thought Luke was gonna absolutely demolish me, because he actually trains with a coach and stuff, and the last time I played was with him, months ago, but I did rather okay. I’m certainly not perfect at the game but I did get a few good shots in. We didn’t play an actual match, just hit it around.

I can still remember the feeling. I was going for a lob toward the left side of the net and the next thing I felt was complete dizziness. I’ve had this feeling before playing tennis and it’s absolutely horrific. I’m not sure what causes it, whether it’s the heat, the way the sun hit my eyes, I’m really not sure, but I just feel completely dizzy and my body completely shuts down. I was mid-air when it happened and I was completely dizzy and I remember feeling absolutely sick and nauseous and told myself to concentrate on not breaking my ankle when I landed. “Don’t break your ankle, Matt. Don’t break your ankle,” I kept telling myself.
I could hear Luke’s reaction from the other side of the net as he realized I was in trouble.

I kind of landed on my left side, left elbow, left upper thigh area. We were playing on a concrete court also, so I braced for the pain. I quickly managed to get myself into an upright position to try and get blood flowing ASAP and the dizziness subsided. I was completely disoriented and had to give the game up for a good 20 minutes whilst I went and sat down for a while. There was no way I could keep playing. I was too scared of it happening again.

This was me sitting down after I went down faster than a priest in an orphanage.

So I did that and played on my phone for a while, and pretty much drank all of Luke’s water bottle. They had a drinking fountain/bubbler there so when I felt a bit better, I went and refilled it whilst Luke practiced his serving. I decided to buy a few bottles of overpriced Powerade ($4 each!) from the canteen, since Luke had paid for the courts, it was only fair, but I figured the electrolites couldn’t hurt me either. I probably needed them.
I bought two, a red and a blue, and hid them when I went back. I went back onto the court and picked up the racquet and resumed playing with Luke. I just knew I wasn’t gonna be able to chase any of the balls, which made me a pretty boring opponent, but oh well. Fuck it, I wasn’t risking that feeling again.
After a while, I yelled out at Luke, “What colour do you want?” and of course he was like, “What colour what?” and I went and got the cold bottles and showed him. He was very appreciative of a cold drink.

We finished up a while later, and I took a final snap on my way out. Of course by now, I look like a crazy professor. I’m stunned I didn’t get more sunburnt than I did.

So yeah, that was a little bit of fun, but two days on as I’m writing this, MAN am I feeling it. Surprisingly, the only physical injury I had from the fall was a little bit of grazing on my left elbow. The rest of me is bloody sore though. I’m like an old man every time I get up just to hobble through the house. I did manage to get a lot of cleaning done today though, so that’s something. I’ve just got a little bit of my room to go. Work’s going to be interesting trying to work when I’m so sore.

I’ve been invited to a Halloween party this weekend, at Ayden’s place. He invited me on the spot when he came to pick up his mail. I have no idea what to go as on such short notice, but he wants me to be a pirate because that’s what he’s going as. I was like, “A pirate isn’t very Halloween’y.” Then I suggested going slutty, because that’s the other Halloween option, right?
I might have a look after work on Friday afternoon to see if I can find anything somewhat wearable to a party where I won’t know anyone. I’d kinda like to go with a face-mask so that no-one can recognise me and I won’t feel like such a loner.